Student Awards

Each year, several outstanding Biology students receive departmental awards of recognition. Following are the current and past award recipients.

Undergraduate Awards

Stephen Fox Award

This is awarded to the most outstanding undergraduate in Biology. The Stephen Fox Memorial Fund was established as a memorial to Stephen Fox, a Stanford student studying biology and music.

2024 - Sophia Haase Cox
2023 - Theo Gress
2022 - Tejas Athni
2021 - Jiwoo Lee
2020 - Sani Eskinazi and Rebecca Nelson
2019 - Dylan MacArthur-Waltz
2018 - Johannah Farner
2017 - Samantha Hoffmane
2016 - Taylor Daniel Skokan
2015 - Candice Jeehae Kim
2014 - Seth David Judson
2013 - Allan Quang Phan
2012 - Michael Hsiu Liu

Lauren D. Weinstein Award

Lauren D. Weinstein Award This is awarded to an outstanding undergraduate researcher or instructor who exhibits the dedication to life and science education exemplified by Lauren Weinstein, Class of '88.

2021 - Rishabh Kapoor
2020 - Ashwin Reddy
2017 - Nicolas Herrera Crosta
2014 - Katherine Grace Nabel
2012 - Jessica Chang

Angela Lee Undergraduate Research Award

This award recognizes the most outstanding poster presented at the annual Achauer Undergraduate Honors Symposium. It honors Dr. Angela Lee Riepel's dedication to undergraduates pursuing research and honors in biology.

2024 - Yu chen (Rellie) Liu
2023 - Amaris Lewis
2022 - Vrinda Suresh
2021 - Sarah Ludington
2020 - Spencer Robinson
2019 - Akshay Jaggi
2018 - Alan Yinong Wei
2017 - Melodyanne Cheng
2016 - Lorenzo Gonzalez
2015 - Laura Langdeau Cussen
2014 - Michaela Isabelle Soriano
2013 - Phi Nguyen Minh Luong
2012 - Erica Nicole Silva

David M. Kennedy Prize

is awarded annually to the single best thesis in each of four academic areas: humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and engineering & applied sciences.

2019 - Natural Sciences: Sang Ngo, “Tumor Establishment Requires Tumor Autonomous and Non-autonomous Decoupling of EGF Signaling from Apoptosis,” Biology, advised by Lucy O’Brien (Molecular and Cellular Physiology)
2017 - Natural Sciences: Ryan Badiee, Biology. Engineering Bidirectional Regulation of Endogenous Genes. Mentored by Michael Lin
2016 - Natural sciences: Brian Do, “7SK RNA Regulates Gene Expression by Scaffolding Multiple Protein Complexes,” biology, advised by Howard Chang (dermatology) and Or Gozani (biology).

Firestone Medals for Excellence in Undergraduate Research

This is awarded to the top 10 percent of honors theses completed each year in the social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering.

Biology Recipients 2024
- Sophia Haase Cox, "The Genetic Basis and Development of a Novel Tailspot Pattern in Xiphophorus variatus." Mentored by Molly Schumer
- Ruoqi (Emily) Li, “Anterior paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus is a central hub for the downstream processing of socially transferred pain in the anterior cingulate cortex and the insular cortex.” Mentored by Xiaoke Chen
- Suyoun Choi, “Investigating the effects of NRAS-G12D mutant gene dosage in the pathogenesis of acute myeloid leukemia using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing in human HSPCs.” Mentored by Ravindra Majeti
Biology Recipients 2023
- Grace Alchemy, "Mechanisms of Ferroptosis Evasion Promoted by Extracellular Metabolites." Mentored by Scott Dixon
- Ailsa Rachel Craven, “Specific extrusion of Enterovirus-A71-infected cells from human colonoids and consequences for viral spread.” Mentored by Karla Kirkegaard
- William Wang, “Identification of DNA Termini in Sequencing Data through Combined Analysis of End Capture and Local Strand Bias.” Mentored by Andrew Fire
Biology Recipients 2022
- Stewart Kim, "Identification of a Myogenic and Highly Transplantable Tert Expressing Non-Satellite Stem Cell Population." Mentored by Steven Artandi
- Miley Sinantha-Hu, "Proteomic Profiling of Purkinje Cell Surface Reveals the Critical Role of Armadillo-like helical domain containing protein 4 in Mammalian Dendrite Morphogenesis." Mentored by Liqun Luo
- Julien Minoru Wright-Ueda, "Long-term avian responses to drought and urbanization in Northern California." Mentored by Rodolfo Dirzo
Biology Recipients 2021
- Rishabh Kapoor, Biology. Evaluating the Influence of the Nuclear: Cytoplasmic Ratio in the Maternal to Zygotic Transition in Xenopus Embryos. Mentored by Jan Skotheim and Or Gozani
- Saket Myneni, Biology. Identifying the mechanism of aged oligodendrocyte progenitor cell rejuvenation by young cerebrospinal fluid. Mentored by Tony Wyss-Coray and Susan McConnell
- Catherine Wang, Biology. Cell Surface Sialylation Modulates Neuronal Excitability and Network Integration. Mentored by Carolyn Bertozzi and Xiaoke Chen
Biology Recipients 2020
- Sani Eskinazi, “A Centriole-less Pericentriolar Material,” Biology, advised by Jessica Feldman (Biology) and Tim Stearns (Biology).
- Demetri Maxim, “A Novel 3-D Culture System for Modeling Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease,” Biology, advised by Vivek Bhalla (Medicine-Nephrology), Tim Stearns (Biology), and Jeffrey Axelrod (Pathology).
- Spencer Robinson, “Investigating the Role of Tomato Plasma Membrane Protein RLK15 in Tomato Defense Responses to Bacterial Infection,” Biology, advised by Mary Beth Mudgett (Biology) and Jose Dinneny (Biology).
Biology Recipients 2019
- Ricardo Guajardo, “Elucidating the Molecular Basis of Plexin B Level-Dependent Signaling in Neural Circuit Assembly,” Biology, advised by Liqun Luo (Biology)
- Carson Poltorack, “Arginine Withdrawal Engages ATF4-Mediated Transsulfuration and Protects Cancer Cells from Oxidative Death,” Biology, advised by Scott Dixon (Biology)
- Sang Ngo, “Tumor Establishment Requires Tumor Autonomous and Non-autonomous Decoupling of EGF Signaling from Apoptosis,” Biology, advised by Lucy O’Brien (Molecular and Cellular Physiology)
Biology Recipients 2018
- Mireille Bejjani, Biology. Developing Sense of Place in USA Zoos: Effect of Featuring Local Versus Exotic Species. Mentored by Rodolfo Dirzo
- Alan Wei, Biology. Neuronal Expression of the MHCI Qa-1 and Its Role in Activity-Dependent Plasticity. Mentored by Carla Shatz
- Sophia Xiao, Biology. Role of CD47 in Clonal Expansion of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells in Atherosclerosis. Mentored by Nicholas Leeper
- Sophia Zhang, Biology. Modeling Cardiac Dysfunction Associated with Mutation in N-alpha-Acetyltransferase 10 (NAA10) in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes. Mentored by Joseph Wu
Biology Recipients 2017
- Ryan Badiee, Biology. Engineering Bidirectional Regulation of Endogenous Genes. Mentored by Michael Lin
- Kathryn Evans, Biology. Using Viral Tools to Dissect Neural Circuits: Exploring the Nigrostriatal and Claustrocingulate Pathways in Mice. Mentored by Karl Deisseroth
- Andrea Fisher, Biology. Genomic Analysis of Southeast Asian and Sahul Ancestry. Mentored by Marcus Feldman and Richard Klein
- Lydia Tam, Biology. Identifying the Cellular Origin and Enzymatic Mechanism of Activity-regulated Neuroligin-3 Secretion. Mentored by Michelle Monje-Deisseroth
- Yuan Zhang, Biology. Bioactive Lipids Enhance Cardiomyocyte Differentiation from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. Mentored by Sean Wu
Biology Recipients 2016
- Brian Do, “7SK RNA Regulates Gene Expression by Scaffolding Multiple Protein Complexes,” biology, advised by Howard Chang (dermatology) and Or Gozani (biology).
- Christie Nguyen, “Recurrent Point Mutations in the Kinetochore Gene KNSTRN in Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma,” biology, advised by Paul Khavari (dermatology) and Dominique Bergmann (biology).
- Alyssa Noll, “Non-Cell Autonomous Effects in Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma,” biology, advised by Michelle Monje (neurology) and Sue McConnell (biology).
- Bhavenkumar Patel, “A Computational Pipeline to Uncover Genomic Regulatory Regions That Modulate the Wnt Signaling Pathway,” biology, advised by Rajat Rohatgi (biochemistry) and James Nelson (biology).
- Nicole Urman, “SUFU and SMO Mutations in Hedgehog Signaling Drive Resistance Pathways in Basal Cell Carcinoma,” biology, advised by Anthony Oro (dermatology) and Tim Stearns (biology).
- Jacob Winnikoff, “Extrinsic Stabilizers of Proteins: Their Roles in Acclimatizing to Fluctuating Temperatures in the Rocky Intertidal Environment,” biology, advised by George Somero (biology) and Craig Heller (biology).
- Christine Yeh, “The Biomolecular Landscape of Obesity-Mediated Type II Diabetes: An Integrative Multi-Omics Study,” biology, advised by Michael Snydner (genetics), Michael Simon (biology) and Sharon Pitter (radiology).
Biology Recipients 2015
- Zoë Dubrow, “Multiple Xanthomonas euvesicatoria Type 3 Secretion Effectors Target 14-3-3 Mediated Immune Signaling in Tomato,” biology; advised by Mary Beth Mudgett, associate professor of biology.
- Ritika Dutta, “Inhibition of the RSK-CREB Signaling Axis as a Therapeutic Strategy for Acute Myeloid Leukemia,” biology; advised by Kathleen Sakamoto, professor of pediatrics.
- Candice Kim, “Characterization of the INO80 Subfamily of Chromatin Remodelers in Microtubule Dynamics in S. cerevisiae,” biology; advised by Ashby Morrison, assistant professor of biology.
- Lila Neahring, “Structural Determinants of Smoothened Regulation in the Hedgehog Pathway,” biology; advised by Philip Beachy, professor of biochemistry.
- Isabelle Neylan, “The Effects of Herbivory, Transgenerational Changes and Conspecific Communication on the Induced Defenses of Wild Radish,” biology; advised by Rodolfo Dirzo, professor of biology.

Previous Firestone Medal winners

Graduate Awards

Frances Lou Kallman Award

This award is given to a Biology graduate student in recognition of special excellence in coursework, teaching and/or research. Through the 2023 award year, this award was given specifically to a female graduate student.

2024 - Mallory Harris
2023 - Aurora Alvarez-Buylla & Pamela Rios Coronado
2022 - Nicole Nova
2021 - Kaitlin Ching
2020 - Callie Chappell
2019 - Laura Bogar
2018 - Natalie H. N. Low
2017 - Hannah Kim Frank
2016 - Pengpeng Li
2015 - Rachel Egger
2014 - Amanda Amodeo & Holly Moeller
2013 - Chelsea L. Wood
2012 - Kristy Jean Kroeker

Samuel Karlin Prize in Mathematical Biology

Given to the graduate student whose dissertation reaches the highest standard of Mathematical Biology, this award honors Professor Samuel Karlin of Stanford's Department of Mathematics.

In observance of his 65th birthday, his associates, led by Prof. Marcus W. Feldman, produced a book on Mathematical Evolutionary Theory, celebrating Prof. Karlin’s contributions to that field. The royalties from the book accumulate to provide this prize.

2024 - Harman Jaggi
2023 - Kayla Denton
2022 - Hao Shen
2021 - Richard Grewelle
2019 - Rohan Mehta
2018 - Alison Feder
2017 - Amy Goldberg
2016 - Michael "Doc" Edge
2015 - Allison Rhines
2014 - Ethan Jewett
2013 - Julie Marie Granka
2010 - Jeremy Van Cleve

Charles Yanofsky Prize in Molecular Biology

This goes to the most outstanding graduate student working in the field of molecular biology. It honors Professor Charles Yanofsky of the Department of Biology.

2024 - Hannah Fung
2023 - Victor Naturale
2022 - Giovanni Forcina
2021 - Devin King
2020 - Yanniv Dorone
2019 - Pin-Joe Ko
2018 - Devon Chandler-Brown
2017 - Katherine Solari
2016 - Alex Wilkinson
2015 - William Stork

Teaching Awards

Norman K. Wessells Award

This is awarded to an outstanding undergraduate or graduate course/teaching assistant.

2024 - Lydia Villa
2023 - Sydney Nagy
2022 - Weaverly Colleen Co Lee
2021 - Tyler McFadden
2020 - Kaleda Denton
2019 - Stephanie Caty
2018 - Claire Baumer and Caroline Daws
2017 - John Schroeder
2016 - Devin King
2015 - Alexis Mychajliw
2013 - Jeremy Hsu
2012 - Emily Abrash and Irene Onyeneho
2011 - Matthew Leo Knope and Nina Ly

2024 Excellence in Teaching Awards